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Thursday never looking back

Let’s start things off with a little Separated at Birth from the Unicameral, via Nashville…

State Senator Kate Sullivan and Reba McEntire!

(OK, maybe it’s just the hair. But still…)

***

As the Presidential debate rollicks along — particularly in Iowa — it is always fun to see who-is-supporting-who in Nebraska.

Governor Pete Ricketts is asked often who he favors, and he has continued to be coy, only saying he favors a Governor. Anyone who knows him, of course, knows that his father, Joe Ricketts, is a major Scott Walker donor and his brother Todd is a finance Chair of Walker’s camp.

Probably pretty safe to say that the Gov is a Walker guy.

(And State Senator Mike Groene announced in my podcast interview on The Wheels Down Politics Show that he is a Walker-guy as well. To hear why, and to hear his Veep preference…listen to the dang show!)

Who else?

Senator Ben Sasse is thought to likely side with one of his Senate colleagues. Marco Rubio is a young up and comer in The Club, hyper-smart and speaks at a frenetic pace — sort of like Nebraska’s Jr. Senator.

Rubio has Carlos Castillo as his Nebraska guy, and a few others are supporters, including Nebraska political consultant Jordan McGrain and DCRP counsel Garth Glissman.

Then again, Ted Cruz visited Nebraska on Sasse’s behalf back in his campaign. And Cruz and is on the strong conservative wing of the party, that Sasse seems attached to as well.

Hmm.

Nebraska’s Sr. Senator, Deb Fischer, has been pretty noncommittal lately, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see her stay out of the primary all together. Though maybe she’s just waiting to pounce.

Hal Daub will be heading Jeb Bush’s Nebraska steering committee, which will also include State Senator Beau McCoy.

Carly Fiorina’s camp has backers in the state, probably branching over to Iowa as well.

Ben Carson bumper stickers can be seen in the area and there were Husker shirts worn over at the last Carson rally in CB.

So how about the current leader in the polls, Trump?

Does he have an organizing group? Can he? Would he bother?
And are Trump supporters in Nebraska the type who would go over to Iowa to help campaign, like say, a Hillary supporter might be?

Bush was speaking Spanish in a school, and took a pot-shot at Trump. Trump returned fire by suggesting Bush speak English, to set an example.

It’s interesting. On the one hand, Bush is seeking Latino supporters, and wants to show his fluency.

On the other, Trump is right in the macro view, that non-English speakers have a much, much, much, much, much, much better chance at succeeding in America if they learn and speak English. Bush would probably agree with that, and he’s trying to have it both ways, while appealing to Latino voters.

But give it to Trump for deftly shifting the conversation to another, similar topic, while Bush is trying to show his bi-lingual advantage.

You do have to note that he is adept at turning questions to his favor and that he changes direction like a young Eric Crouch running 95 yards against Missouri, leaving opponents’ jock straps all over the field. (Sorry for the visual.)

Some day it will be a fascinating study to compile the way he has answered questions and shifted discussions.

Quite often it seems his opponents are playing checkers while he is playing jai alai.

***

Listen, I know what you Democrats are going to say about the Kentucky County Clerk who refused to issue the same-sex marriage license.

You’re going to say “I’m not surprised,” and “Of course this was going to happen when one of ‘those types’ gets put in charge.”

27 comments

If I’m going to be fired when I don’t even work at NU I want to openly declare my guilt in advance. Iran, North Korea, the University of Nebraska, birds of a feather. I’ll even pay for the bullet used to execute me on the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium. Just let me have a hot dog & a beer before I die.

Or the stand-up guy who never had a chance to do the job one time because Comrade Perlman’s aparatchiks were directed to purge counter-revolutionary elements? Perhaps Comrade Eichorst is the culprit? It matters not. Perlman & Eichorst are themselves pawns in the inevitable movement of history towards greater uniformity, greater control.

What say I? I say those least able to see Trump clearly are the Party faithful.

Sweeper asks about Trump’s local supporters, as if Trump will be stuffing envelopes and walking door to door in Iowa, and like the rest of the candidates spend 90% of ther time whoring out promises in exchange for donations. Trump used to pay these hookers for their promises. Now he’s running for President on his own dime and in a digital age where people don’t even go outside let alone door-to-door.

The Party faithful are expert in winning elections twenty years ago and they are habituated to supporting politicians who need donations which always come with strings and thus make the pols liars. The longer you are steeped in this pool of special interest; on the irrational pretext that beggars make great leaders; the more your experience in politics is in fact a bunch of ingrained bad habits.

And yet nothing can make up for a candidate being unable to connect in real-time with others.

Trump is being called The Great Negotiator. Reagan was The Great Communicator. They are as far up that spectrum as teleprompter-Obama is at the bottom. If you cannot talk to Americans without a script, you are dead meat in negotiating with our allies and enemies. Reagan’s words backed by his balls broke the USSR. Trump has similar grit and is deeply strategic, including having a Reagan-like grasp of the benefit of being underestimated. Whatever Trump does in Iowa, we won’t see it coming.

When was the last time you saw someone have so much fun running for office? Most of them are terrified of losing one vote.

Oh color me surprised, Hal Daub leading the Nebraska steering committee for Jeb Bush. Would have thought McCoy would be more of a Ted Cruz guy. Maybe future political aspirations are keeping him in line with the Old Guard. BTW, Lil Mac nailed it.

Lil Mac, I am very sympathetic to a politician running for office who makes a habit of having Bullworth moments, but Trump has no coherent plan. Right now, he has the luxury of dropping bombs, pissing people off, and walking away. He has not come across anyone who has bigger balls than he but as President of the United States, he most definitely will and he won’t know what hit him because those people aren’t swinging them around in everyone’s face. They will be quietly plotting and planning, leading Trump right into their traps. He’s definitely entertaining but the man is a jumble of incoherent beliefs. Trump is the nihilist’s choice: we’re all screwed anyway so we might as well make it interesting.

I wish that the other candidates were as fearless as he. I wish the other candidates understood the 1 or 2 issues that really motivate the base. I am hopeful that Trump will give them courage to stand up for conservative values. But beyond immigration, the rest of Trump’s views are pretty much opposite to mine. I think he can get the nomination. I think he can beat Sanders in the general. And then God help us all because things are going to be as out of control as his mouth is in about a week. I’ll vote for Trump in the general, but I’ll be prepping like there’s no tomorrow because there probably won’t be.

This November it will be fifteen years since about 70% of voting Nebraskans disgraced their constitution with anti-same-sex-union language. Will y’all keep the faulty language in tact, or will someone there start an initiative to fix the defect?

I would have really thought Sasse would be enthusiastically supporting Cruz right out of the gate with all of his rhetoric from the NESEN primary. He has been notably absent in supporting Cruz and the right side of the party. I guess he really did sell out to McConal on day one.

No more disgraceful than crowing about tax justice, Texas Annie, without being able to demonstrate where to see at work. Because homework is too hard. More effort is required BY YOU. Do it and you can join us at the grown-up table.

TA blathered: “This November it will be fifteen years since about 70% of voting Nebraskans disgraced their constitution with anti-same-sex-union language.”

Right. Formally establishing marriage as being between one man and one woman…a form in which it had existed throughout the vast majority of the civilized world for a few millennia…THAT was a disgrace to our constitution. Pfft. Your posts are increasingly assaultive to rational thought.

To think…people used to sail for months and thousands of miles in slow-moving, disease-riddled wooden ships in order to live according to rules they found more congruent with their beliefs. Now, people won’t even move to a neighboring state. What a bunch of pansies this country has become.

Here, in Nebraska, we don’t waste taxpayers’ money. The Revisor of Statutes just cites that 5-4 abortion of legal reasoning by SCOTUS and the Nebraska constitutional amendment is effectively repealed. Tony Kennedy and the other four hacks are smarter than us and do whatever they want.

Nov 2012
Nebraska amends it’s constitution, using language provided by the National Rifle Association, to incorporate the Right to Fish and Hunt.
Because, ya know, Freedom!

July 2012
“Judge tosses out contraception lawsuit filed by Nebraska (Jon Bruning), six other states..
..Plaintiffs also included three Nebraska-based groups — Catholic Social Services, Pius X High School and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America — along with a nun and a female missionary.”

Wasting money on pure political pandering has been the THE SOLE MISSION of the NE AG office for a least the last decade.

Sparkles:
And you wonder why our taxes are so high:) Of course, we could do much more for the poor and be bankrupt by billions of dollars like CA. On the other hand, I’m sure you are praying that the Repubs don’t get to close to the end of the earth. They might push you over while you peer over the edge. By the way, where did all that stuff on the head of the pin come from? Did God fool Pen and Teller? If there is no God, there are no inalienable rights. Ready to give yours up? But no, our country is not founded on Christian principles.

California now ranks as the world’s eighth largest economy, the gains driven by technology, tourism, trade and the resurgence of construction. The Golden State now falls behind Brazil but in front of Russia and Italy.

Yup, and California real estate is still unaffordable, Sparkles. I lived half my 50+ years in Sunny California, most of these years paying $1500/month for a 750 sq ft apartment in Monterey. The closest “affordable” housing was either in Reno or Lake Havasu City. Kind of a long commute to San Francisco or Los Angeles. California is an overpriced dump and those high tech employers you crow about treat their employees as replaceable commodities. And it’s worse for all the brown people imported to pick your lettuce. You can still fund 20 unrelated people crammed into 2-car garages in East Salinas, in easy view of the Democrat-driven Volvos driving Highway 68 on their way to mimosas in Carmel and Pebble Beach.

No, Yargle, just publically funded like Perlman, Eichorst, and other suckers of the public teat. Self-important and easily replaced. Rather like our do nothing Regents. I’m not a big fan of NU Athletics or its educational auxiliary these days. I am certain there is waste & under management to be remedied, plenty of work for the Unicameral to do. Not Ricketts, he’s still not sure what to do most days.

Yes, TA, to the benefit of all actual Nebraskans…you returned to Texas after being forced to move here. (To that point, I’m sorry the police were never able to identify your kidnappers.) And yet you continue to return to this site, crowing about Nebraska politics as if your voice were relevant to a state that you despise. While I’m sure that you believe your cause is a noble crusade for ‘tax justice’ and proper treatment of those who can’t take care of themselves…it sounds more and more like a ‘Somebody Done Somebody Wrong’ song.